Day 26: Escape from Frankfurt

En route to DORTMUND, Germany

Ageism: 53 Mundial years
Pallor: Shiny
Forecast: Different that yesterday – sunny and VERY hot

While packing up and saying goodbye to the apartment on Esslinger Strasse this morning, it occurred to me how utterly flawless this tournament has gone, at least personally. No mechanical breakdowns, save for the Cackberry bonking out, which was no big deal. Cellphone coverage is spotty here too, but again no big deal. Otherwise, no missed trains or connections. Solid people helping along the way. Lots of instant friends made. The laptop never quit, knock on wood. The net cards we bought here were a godsend.

PAULO DUARTE/AP

Not everyone survived the tourney sans breakdown.

Mostly, though, it was the apartment that made the last nearly four weeks so much less stressful. The place was big enough. Well stocked. Good neighbourhood. And that porch leading out to the courtyard. I actually felt like I would miss it, which may be the highest praise of all.
Andrea from our Corporate Concierge agency picked us up right on the dot of 10 a.m. to drive us and our baggage 2 ½ blocks to the station. I asked her if the agency operates outside of Germany, thinking ahead to Euro 2008 in Switzerland and Austria.
“Oh yes,” she said. “I am our Euro project manager. I’m just starting work on that.”
So. Euro 2008 then. Whoever goes from The Star, they’re going to have a fine home base.
Now it’s on to Dortmund, and Germany-Italy playing off for a spot in the final in Berlin on Sunday. I think this is your true World Cup final here. Whoever wins, I think they’re each a little bit better than France or Portugal, who meet Wednesday in Munich.
But more than that, I’m hoping for a good, classic match. As good as this tournament has been – its organization has been superb, the security low-key but effective (the perfect mix), Germany has been a great host, and there’s been some good goals (though not nearly enough of them,

LUCA BRUNO/AP

Zidane: Reborn.

the scoring rate the lowest it’s been since 1990), one lion-in-winter performance (Zidane last time out) and one budding superstar (Lionel Messi, inexplicably nailed to the bench in Argentina’s exit game) and the usual outbursts of controversy – there hasn’t been a single, transcendent game yet. Of the games I was at, Germany-Poland still stands out, but as much for the intense atmosphere and the sense that it was a turning point for the hosts as the game itself. France-Brazil the other night was a great upset with some tremendous flow to it, but it was pretty one-sided, hardly a back-and-forth slugfest. Maybe we’ll get it here. Meantime, I want to link to the finest goal I’ve ever been lucky enough to see: Dennis Bergkamp, 1998, in Marseille. There's countless others we've all seen on TV -- Neil Shipperley putting Palace up a couple years back comes to mind, but maybe that's just me (yes, I'm quite sure it's just me). But live? What a beauty.
Feel free to send along your candidates. Maybe we’ll see another one for the ages today.

Today’s game

Italy 2, Germany 0. An exquisitely tense match broken up very late, Grosso scoring in the 119th minute -- yup, it went extra time -- and Del Piero getting a clincher just before the final whistle. Very late here, I'm on the train, sorting through the usual abusive e-mails, so more tomorrow.

Tomorrow’s game

France vs Portugal. Portugal gets first-team midfielders Deco and Constinha back, and with the former running the show they should be more incisive than they were against England. One of Figo or Zidane are headed off into the sunset depending on the result, and the same can be said for France’s wonderful duo of Makelele and Thuram -- and Patrick Vieira, and Fabien Barthez. Henry is finally the same danger man on this stage that he is at Arsenal, and marking him will be Portugal’s biggest task. This should be tight, but Thuram at the back and Henry up front -- plus defensive midfielder Armando Petit out with suspension for Scolari's band -- tip the scales for me. But forget all that, there's a dandy race at the top of the World Cup tantrum board -- France with a tournament-high 23 and Portugal with 22. Gentlemen, start your hissy fits. France 2, Portugal 1.

World Cup pome

Ray Skyrme is back, with a well-versed preview of Tuesday's semifinal in Dortmund. Take it away, Ray:

GER v ITA

In the bars and Bierhalle in Munich,
Dressed in lLederhosen and green tunic,
The Vaterland’s fans
Dance to umpapa bands:
Their team’s fate in this fight will be Punic.

Meanwhile up on the fair Palatino
Eating pasta and sipping red vino,
Italia’s fratelli
Sing, of their casus belli:
Vinceremo domani, bambino!

Day 25: World Cup music

FRANKFURT, Germany

Ageism: 53 Mundial years added
Pallor: Rosy (two days in one spot, and no games to watch, will get you feeling that way)
Forecast: What else? Sunny and hot

Last full day in Frankfurt – with some time here, went on a Main River boat ride yesterday and well, the wind and the sun were nice; tonight it will be the final meal at the neighbourhood restaurant, the da Michele, where the nightly fresh fish is always, always the wise choice. Dora Danielli and her husband – the eponymous chef, Michele – have 34 years here in the restaurant business. They’ve been at their present location, 2 ½ blocks away from the train station, for four years. If you’re ever in the neighbourhood, you can’t go wrong here.
Now, to a mini-post, sort of the addendum to the other day’s Feel the Love Generation whining, among other things. When it comes to cheesy music, nothing beats the World Cup. Before they play every match here, the same tunes precede the arrival of the teams and their officially sponsored children’s escorts.
Besides Feel the Love etc., there’s All Together Now, a soap bubble of a pop song from the Brit-bubblegummer group Atomic Kitten, otherwise harmless except it amps up the cute factor with an accompanying video of pantless, bankrupt mascot Goleo and his little ball pal traveling over Planet Football. Bleah.
At halftime, there’s a bunch of advertisements. In previous World Cups, I always looked forward to this time for the montage of past great moments – in 2002, I never got tired of watching the same clip, almost 70 years of history boiled down to three minutes. Not here. This has been the most corporate of World Cups. All you get at halftime is selling.
At the end of each game, as the players fall to the ground either exalting or in desolation, there’s another destruction of the Pet Shop Boys’ Go West – this is a terrace anthem with a version for every language, and subversions from there. In this case, a way-OTT tenor sings “Stand Up for the Champ-i-ons”. Pretty corny.
When I get home, these things will be drilled into my skull so deep I’d need microsurgery to get them out. They’re down there with Ricky Martin (France ’98), Anastasia (Korea/Japan ’02) and Nelly Furtado (Euro 2004) – I can’t remember the USA ’94 stuff, though I do recall Diana Ross’ awful miskick of the easiest tap-in of a ball at the opening ceremonies in Chicago. It’s a cheezfest.
There’s one common element: No one appears to be paying the least attention to it, at least until the final when everyone's in party mode (Furtado's Forca! at the Euro finale got 'em jumping, and Martin got a big brass backup in '98). These are meant in part to be stadium singalongs, but rarely does anyone join in. At Netherlands-Ivory Coast, there was some desultory clapping, but that’s been it.
That’s why the fans in the stands singing “Born in the USA” or “I Will Survive” or "Football's Coming Home" are so much a part of this event, much moreso than the most committed at the biggest games in North America. These people don’t need prompting from the Jumbotron – The show in the stands, with the costumes and the people-watching, is so much more interesting than what's up there -- they make their own noise.

Tomorrow’s semifinal

Germany vs Italy. I’ll be at this one in Dortmund, where Germany have never lost an international – that’s 71 years, and 14 matches, 13 of them wins. But the anti-stat to that is that Italy has never lost to the Mannschaft at the World Cup finals, including the 1982 championship game. Looks like Germany could be without defensive midfielder Torsten Frings, who is in the midst of a disciplinary hearing in Berlin early this afternoon, after a review of video suggested he was an “active participant” in the post-match melee with Argentina on Friday. A huge loss, he would be – his presence allows Michael Ballack to roam a little more freely up front, and is a security blanket for the Germany back 4. Nesta is probably still out for Azzurri, who get Materazzi back from suspension and into the central defence. I like how Italy looked in their latest, their own goal against the U.S. way back when is the only ball to have got by Buffon in five matches here, and they've remained unbeaten and mostly unshakable despite all the trouble with the game back home. Italy 1, Germany 0.

UPDATE: Frings has been suspended for the semifinal. This from the FIFA news release:

The committee ruled that it had been proved that Frings had punched Argentine international Julio Cruz immediately after the World Cup quarter-final between Germany and Argentina on 30 June 2006. In the opinion of the committee, this action was tantamount to an assault.

Chinese TV call of Italy penalty

This is apparently going nuts on the web: China's CCTV official broadcaster's call of last Monday's crazy Italy-Australia finale, with the foul and penalty that decided it.

The next day, broadcaster Huang Jianxiang apologized, according to this China Broadcast story:

Huang, working with national broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV), dumped his normal objectivity as he shouted "Long Live Italy" and "I don't like Australia" when Italy knocked out Australia on a last-minute penalty shot to reach the quarter-finals.
"In the last minutes of the Italy-Australia game last night, I added too much personal emotion to my comments," said Huang's apology letter which was read out by World Cup host Zhang Bin Tuesday night.

And one more bit:

The 38-year-old Huang screamed "Penalty! Penalty! Penalty!" as Italian defender Fabio Grosso tumbled over Lucas Neill's challenge in the Australian box.
"Grosso made it! He made it! Don't give Australia any chance! Great Italian left back. Grosso alone represents the long history and traditions of Italian soccer. He is not fighting alone," he shouted.
"Totti! He is about to take the shot. He shoulders the expectations of the whole world.
"It's a goal! Game over! ... Italy didn't fall to (Guus) Hiddink's team this time (Hiddink had led South Korea to oust Italy in the 2002 World Cup). Happy birthday to Paolo Maldini (born on July 26)! Long Live Italy!"
Huang then turned to the Socceroos: "Go home! But they don't need to fly back as far as to Australia because most of them live in Europe. Bye-bye."

Thanks to colleague Cathal Kelly for the links from back in TO.

Day 24: It's gone all quiet

FRANKFURT, Germany

Ageism: 52 Mundial years
Pallor: Relieved
Forecast: Turning quiet, with scattered church bells

Looks like real life just returned to Frankfurt. Last night was the final game at the Waldstadion, with the semifinals in Dortmund and Munich, the third-place game in Hannover and next Sunday's final in Berlin. So that means that we too are getting ready to uproot ourselves. But still there's one more day, and it's quiet, and it's a holiday back home, so I'll put up a couple of things around the theme of club vs country, then leave you to your barbecues and cottaging.

First, here's Kevin Mitchell in The Observer this morning, from an article headlined Abramovich strikes -- and Chelsea win the World Cup:

The paradox that attends football is that, while it engages more people than any other sport, reaching into villages in the Andes, housing estates in Slough, penthouses in Minsk, the projects of Chicago, a playground in Cologne, and sustains the hopes of whole nations once every four years, it exists most vividly and more regularly in the imagination of its audience within the confines of a few grotesquely rich clubs.

And one more thing: last December's top 10 in the voting for the FIFA Player of the Year Award, their point totals based on the vote, and how they've gone at this tournament:

1 Ronaldinho 956 ... Out of sorts and out of the tournament.
2 Frank Lampard 306 ... Hands up everyone who thought he looked like the No. 2 player in the world. Anyone for No. 2,000? Perhaps the most disappointing performance here, and certainly one he will carry around for a while.
3 Samuel Eto'o 190 ... Along with Cameroon, didn't make it here.
4 Thierry Henry 172 ... Finally getting it done for Les Bleus. Someone tell me who was supposed to be marking him on Saturday night.
5 Adriano 170 ... Didn't have much of a tournament, and now Brazil are gone.
6 Andriy Shevchenko 153 ... Got to the final eight, but was marked right out of that final game by Italy's Cannavaro.
7 Steven Gerrard 131 ... Rarely showed any of the marauding, explosive package he brings to Liverpool.
8 Kaká 101 ... Brazil's best midfielder here. Along with Henry, the only one on this list to match the position here.
9 Paolo Maldini 76 ... Retired from international play after 2002 World Cup.
10 Didier Drogba 65 ... Could have done more as Ivory Coast couldn't advance out of a tough group.

The Bard of the Cup

Ray has been doing this all along during the World Cup: creating these five-line limericks summing up the day's play. But up till now, no one outside Ray's favoured circle has noticed. Thanks to a friend who shall remain nameless for passing them along, today's quarterfinal doggerel is here. And nice job, Ray. Please consider dropping in here any time, there's always a place for this kind of quality:

0 ENG v POR 0 (PK 3-1):

Rooney’s gone. England’s down to ten men,
Posing one serious problem for Sven.
Without Beckham (replaced)
Will his King now be Aced?
Damn! Scolari has trumped him again!

0 BRA v FRA 1:

Les Bleus outplay the famed Blue and Yellas!
No more carnaval in the favelas.
Toute la France crie, ravie,
Vive Zizou! Vive Thierry!
Celebrating this year’s Cinderellas!

Day 23: First look at Berlin

FRANKFURT, Germany

Ageism: 53 Mundial years added to my life (a day, and a game, and one more for nearly nine hours on the train to Berlin and back -- frankly, the novelty of trains has worn off)
Palllor: Tricolour (might be the last we see of Zidane on this stage, after all)
Forecast: Very hot here (and up in Gelsenkirchen, where England play Portugal)

Blog's going on holiday time for the next couple of days. Happy Canada Day to everyone back home.

Just an add to yesterday's Rating the Stadiums, now that I've been to Berlin:

Olympiastadion, Berlin. This was built for the infamous 1936 Olympics, and to get to it you walk along Jesse-Owens-Allee, where some band was cranking up a pretty rocked up, almost listenable version of Go West, surely the most all-played out of footy anthems. But back to the stadium. It's been pretty much rebuilt, first for the 1974 World Cup, then again for this one. Open at one end -- the Marathon Arch -- it's easily the most massive stadium at this competition, although its maximum capacity is less than that of Dortmund. You sort of feel swallowed up inside it, and I was sitting in a midrange area, about 10 rows up in the upper deck. Allianz Arena, which is almost as big, never feels that way. Outside the stadium are the remains of the smaller, second stadium built for the '36 Olympics -- the press centre tent was located right across the old running track from the weedy stone terraces. Around the grounds many of the old Nazi sculptures are still standing. I'm glad I'll be back here for the final -- I took the S-Bahn out to the stadium from near midtown and a friendly women with a bike was pointing out some wonderful neighbourhoods here. Overall assessment of the Olympic Stadium: A decent place to watch a game, but I'd still rate Dortmund, Munich and Kaiserslautern higher in my ratings.

That's all for today. Like I said, the blog is on long weekend.

Today's games

Portugal 0, England 0 aet (Portugal wins 3-1 on penalties). Crazy game, as usual. Rooney sent off for stomping on Ricardo Carvalho's privates and shoving (very lightly) his Man United teammate Cristian Ronaldo of Portugal. Down to 10 men, Portugal can't penetrate English packed defence, so it goes to penalties, where Frank Lampard, whose had a haunted look this whole tournament, misses their first to set the tone. Simao, Postiga and finally Cristian Ronaldo with the clincher, while only Owen Hargreaves (on Canada Day, yet) can find the net for England. Portugal's into the semifinals for the first time since 1966, and only the second time ever. And England's goin' 'ome -- again.

France 1, Brazil 0. Now we have us a tournament! The favourites are gone, and a just result too. France never goes negative, Zidane rules the midfield and delivers the perfect 40-metre free kick from the left side to a mystifyingly wide-open Thierry Henry at the far post, and he volleys it into the top of the net. The French were given up for dead until the second half of their final group match with Togo. Now they look like a finalist, with a date against Portugal in the semis coming up on Wednesday in Munich.